Mayawati announce fee subsidy scheme afresh

Lucknow, May 24 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday announced afresh a scheme of fee subsidy for backward class students initiated by her predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav. Earmarking Rs.2 billion for the scheme, she told reporters here that the subsidy Yadav had announced was merely a “promise” without any financial allocation.

The new scheme would enable students of all classes, including those from general category, to avail 100 percent fee subsidy for studies beyond the intermediate level. Students from families whose annual income is less than Rs.100,000 will be eligible.

The chief minister’s move came in the wake of restlessness among some 4,000 students of other backward classes (OBCs) of Lucknow University who were Wednesday asked to deposit their fees for the academic year that ended last month.

These students, whose parents’ annual income was less than Rs.100,000, were supposed to be the beneficiaries of a zero-fee scheme Yadav announced during his tenure.

After the Mayawati government Tuesday scrapped the scheme, the results of these students had been held back to press them to pay fees.

Mayawati Saturday asked the university administration to hand over examination results to these students while allowing them the zero-fee benefit.

She said the Yadav government was to bear the burden of the fee subsidy and reimburse the university but it never did. “Now, the benefits would actually accrue to the students,” she said.